Think you're paying too much for your cellular phone
service? If you live in Los Angeles, Boston or San Francisco,
you're probably right. Cellular phone rates in these three
cities are the highest in the nation, with Los Angeles topping the
chart: The average business user there racks up $120.69 in charges
per month.

The reason? In addition to a high demand for service, these
cities are built in very hilly areas, and, as a result, cell phone
carriers had to build more wireless towers than carriers in, say,
Philadelphia or Sacramento, says Charles Mahla of Econ One Research
Inc., an economics research and consulting firm in Los Angeles.
"The added expense to build and maintain these systems can, in
part, explain the higher rates," he says.

But there's still hope. According to Econ One, cell phone
companies across the country are starting to offer one-rate
pricing, similar to the pricing plans of some long-distance
carriers.

Call Me

You've probably seen the ads for consumer collect-call
services like 1-800-COLLECT. Maybe you've even wondered if a
similar service is available for business users. Simply put, the
answer is no.

According to Aric March, president and CEO of MHA Communications
Inc. in Highland Park, Illinois, entrepreneurs who want to let
their customers call them for free have two options. One is to
offer a toll-free number. The only problem with that is, often
customers can't remember your number if they're away from
their offices. But there's another, increasingly popular way to
get customers to call you directly at your expense: Provide them
with a pre-paid calling card with your company's name and logo
on it.

If the customer dials you, you keep their business. But even if
they dial another party, the phone company can pro-vide you with a
record of who they called, giving you interesting information for
market research that could lead to the creation of new products by
your company. And is this legal, you ask? The customer has
acknowledged their consent simply by using the card. Remember,
nothing in life is free.

Home Work

You got questions? We got answers.

Telecommuting is a dream for many employees. But it's a
potential nightmare for some businesses. "Different employers
have different needs," says Lewis Gardner, a labor law
attorney at Greenberg Traurig in Tysons Corner, Virginia. "At
smaller establishments, the guidelines may be looser and more
informal than large businesses."

But whether you like it or not, statistics from the U.S.
Department of Labor show that 17 million Americans telecommute to
work. So what should you know as an employer?

One thing employers should definitely do is pay for dedicated
phone lines (including high-speed Internet access lines), for
at-home workers, says Bobby Patrick, vice president of strategy and
product development for Digex Inc., a Web site developer in
Beltsville, Maryland.

But work-at-home privileges should probably be reserved for only
a certain group of employees, according to a recent report, How
to Escape the 9 to 5 Rat Race, by the American Tele-commuters
Association (ATA). Jobs that call for writing, research and
analysis are the top candidates for telecommuting, along with
computer programming and budgeting. For a copy of the report,
contact the ATA at (312) 494-2697.

Survey Says . . .

Cell phone bills for high-volume users living in one of these
cities might look something like this: